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<P CLASS="msonormal" ALIGN=CENTER><U><FONT SIZE=2><B>How To Recover
An Instrument</B></U></FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2>Occasionally during a protocol run,
one or more of the instruments may fail.&nbsp; This tab is designed
to help you recover from such failures, and it aims to do so without
having you restart Clarity.&nbsp; However, if the error is rare or
severe, a restart may be required.</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2>Before attempting any recovery, <I><B>you
must check that the robots are not blocked or interfered with in
anyway</B></I>.&nbsp; For example, if the plate transfer station is
jammed by a plate that has fallen into its path, remove this plate
and then attempt the restart.&nbsp; During the restart process, many
of the instruments are moved around to their &ldquo;home&rdquo;
positions, and anything blocking this movement will throw another
error and possibly damage the robot.&nbsp; Below are some notes
specific to the process of recovering each instrument, when you are
ready to recover an instrument, click the relevant button on the
left.&nbsp; In the event that the error is severe, things look really
out of whack, or you feel uncomfortable performing the recovery,
don&rsquo;t do anything and contact Christian, Nigel or Claire.</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2>Once an instrument is recovered, go
back to the main tab to resume the protocol run.&nbsp; However, it is
important to note that unless you attempt the last instruction again,
your protocol will resume at the </FONT>
</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2><U><B>What if I can&rsquo;t recover
from an error</B></U></FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=2>Anytime you cannot recover from an error, you should
report it to Nigel (ndelaney@fas) so the situation can be avoided in
the future.&nbsp; Try and remember what caused the error or what was
happening before it occurred.&nbsp; If you believe that the
instruments are okay, and the problem lies in the software (given
that your protocol is sensible), you can restart both computers and
reload the program.&nbsp; If the robot hardware is failing, do not
attempt to retry the operation, this will require service. </FONT>
</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal" ALIGN=CENTER><U><B>Instrument Specific Notes</B></U></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2><U>The Victor Plate Reader</U></FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=2>This instrument is unique because the software that runs
it is on a different computer then the one that runs Clarity.&nbsp;
Therefore, when Clarity sends a request to the plate reader, it is
making a request to a program that is running on the other computer.&nbsp;
The easiest way to fix any problems is to restart this computer and
hit the recovery button.&nbsp; To recover without a restart, note
that if a careless user has manually exited the program on the other
computer that Clarity talks to, you will not be able to restart the
Victor.&nbsp; To check if the program is running do the following.&nbsp;
Go to the keyboard/monitor that controls the victor, than open the
taskmanager.&nbsp; Check that &ldquo;VictorRemoteServer.exe&rdquo;
shows up under the list on the processes tab.&nbsp; If it does not,
you will need to restart this program.&nbsp; Go to
Start&gt;Startup&gt;VictorRemoteServer.exe.&nbsp; Once the victor is
active and running you should also see &ldquo;MlrServ.exe&rdquo; and
&ldquo;VictorStandAloneForm.exe&rdquo; running in the processlist.&nbsp;
To make sure this doesn&rsquo;t happen again, find whoever closed the
program and tell them not to do that.&nbsp; This is a very bad and
unnecessary problem.</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2><U>The Twister</U></FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=2>The most common reason the Twister fails is that it
loses its &ldquo;sense of place&rdquo; after many operations.&nbsp;
When the Twister is first initialized it sets the origin of its X, Y
and Z axes.&nbsp; When a move command is given to the Twister, it is
told to travel to a specific X, Y and Z. Unfortunately, the robot
seems to get its bearings off after a few moves, and so a given move
command will start sending the Twister to a slightly different
physical location as the protocol goes on.&nbsp; To circumvent this
issue, periodically add the &ldquo;HomeAllAxes&rdquo; command to your
protocols, this will reset the X, Y and Z positions and helps to
ensure consistent results.&nbsp; One should also grease the machine
if it starts losing its bearings regularly.</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=2>The Twister also has a separate program to control it
that should be visible in the taskbar.&nbsp; If the robot is jammed,
gripping something inappropriate, or otherwise not ready to be
reinitialized, use this program to move it to a safe location.&nbsp;
See the documentation files for information on how to run this
program.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </FONT>
</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal" STYLE="text-decoration: none">&nbsp;</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2><U>Transfer Station</U></FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=2>Note that the transfer station will often fail to lift
the lid of your plate if the center of the lid has a plastic &ldquo;bump&rdquo;.&nbsp;
Most plates have this bump, and you should always scratch this bump
off before using a plate.</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=2>If nothing is blocking the movement of the transfer
station, the easiest way to recover it is to simply hit the relevant
button.&nbsp; However, sometimes in the event of a mechanical block
it may be necessary to send commands to the transfer station in order
to free a jam.&nbsp; The transfer station that moves plates from the
incubator out to the twister is controlled by the DCU or device
control unit.&nbsp; This is essentially a box with a bunch of wires
running out of it.&nbsp; Each wire controls a different operation,
and can exist in an On/Off state.&nbsp; The state of these wires can
be set in the DCU program that should be running and visible in the
taskbar.&nbsp; By clicking on a particular number, you can change the
state of that wire, and perform a given action.&nbsp; The numbers
below correspond to the following operations:</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2>1- Turn blower on/off</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2>2- Turns vacuum on/off</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2>3- Moves suction cup up/down</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2>4- Moves Station in/out</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2>Finally, in rare events when you
start the program you may see a message that says &ldquo;object
variable or with block not set&rdquo;, this message is evil, though
the last exorcist I called seems to have removed it.&nbsp; If you see
this, the DCU will fail, please let us know if it reappears.</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2><U>The Incubator</U></FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=2>The incubator has actually been a reasonably reliable
instrument with the new software.&nbsp; Previously, the most common
cause of failure was plates that have been inserted into an incubator
slot that is too tight to fit them.&nbsp; This will cause the
instrument to jam when it attempts to remove the plate.&nbsp; If you
cannot easily lift and slide the plate then you need to either bend
metal, or use another plate slot.</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=2>Another reason for an error could be that you attempted
to place a plate in a position where one already existed.&nbsp; If
you did this, future load/unload commands will fail because there is
something on the plate mover, and so Clarity will refuse to try and
place another plate on it.&nbsp; This error requires careful
recovery, and the steps are essentially to tell the incubator to load
a plate, and then as it moves to lift the plate, you must stand ready
and lift the plate off the shovel before it collides with the
transfer station.&nbsp;  The first step is to recover the incubator
so that you are able to send commands to it.  Hit the recovery button
until the shovel is near the bottom of the incubator and it is not
beeping.  Then, to manually tell the incubator to load, go to the
incubator tab, under type in command type &ldquo;WR DM10 44&rdquo;,
as soon as you hit send, the incubator will attempt to load you
plate.&nbsp; So click the button and quickly grab the plate before it
collides.&nbsp; If the plate does collide, then you have caused two
mechanical errors, and you should contact Christian, Nigel or Claire
before attempting a recovery.</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2>Also, please be aware that unlike
the other instruments, the errors for the incubator are often
reported by time out failures, and the status may not always be up to
date.&nbsp; Finally, when the incubator restarts, the shaking speed
is set much lower by default, and so you will need to change it.</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;</P>
<P CLASS="msonormal"><FONT SIZE=2><U>Macros</U></FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <FONT SIZE=2>This
is a &ldquo;virtual instrument&rdquo; that actually sends commands to
the other instruments.&nbsp; If a command to a macro fails, it is
likely the fault of one of the instruments that it calls on.&nbsp; To
recover, find the instrument that is not working and recover it.&nbsp;
Note that it is usually undesirably to reattempt a macro command, and
that you are better off finishing the command by hand, then
attempting it again.</FONT></P>
<P CLASS="msonormal">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
</P>
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